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Baking

Boiled Ham

A ham that is soaked in salt, boiled, then baked with cracker crumbs and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,237 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Boiled Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Soak the ham in salt for several hours.

  2. Wash the ham thoroughly and trim off any black parts.

Simmer and rest

  1. Cover the ham with cold water and cook slowly for 30 minutes per pound.

  2. Remove from heat and let it sit in the water overnight.

Glaze and bake

  1. Cut off the skin and press whole cloves into the fat.

  2. Sprinkle the top with cracker crumbs and brown sugar.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

  4. Add ½ cup of sherry wine to the boiling ham just before it is done (optional).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + sherrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,237 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + winetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-isoeugenol (clove, spicy).

  3. Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,141 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Clove + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Clove and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown and caramelize in the oven.
Cracker crumbs
Forms a crisp topping that holds the sugar and helps the crust brown.
Whole cloves
Adds warm, spiced aroma to the fat as it cooks.
Sherry wine
Adds aroma and mild acidity to the boiling ham liquid near the end.

The step that matters

Baking the sugar and crumb topping. Brown sugar and cracker crumbs can scorch quickly at 400°F, so the top should be watched during the short bake. Sugar browns through caramelization, which turns bitter if it goes too far.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry, wine):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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